Marcus Agius's five years at head of the Barclays board spanned some of the most tumultuous events in banking history, from the global financial crisis to a string of scandals including rate-setting, mis-selling insurance and pay revolts.

During his tenure Barclays was forced to raise £7bn from Middle East investors to avoid a government bailout, prompting one of the bank's shareholders to call for the chairman's head. That attempt did not work but Agius faced further criticism for waving through the £17m pay package of the chief executive, Bob Diamond, and was jeered and heckled at the bank's annual general meeting.

On Monday he stepped down. As chairman, he said, he was the ultimate guardian of the bank's reputation. "Accordingly, the buck stops with me and I must acknowledge responsibility by standing aside."

In the past Agius has seemed proud of the culture at Barclays. After the financial crisis, he said it was this hard-to-define element that had bolstered the bank and meant it did not have to be bailed out by the taxpayer.

"Quite a few banks came unstuck because they were trying to make too much money too quickly in areas where they'd never been before," he said in 2009. "They saw so much money being made in investment banking and trading, they said: 'I must have some of that,' and they just didn't have the historical experience or the deep-down culture."

Agius enthusiastically spearheaded Barclays' corporate social responsibility programmes, travelling to far-flung corners of the globe to meet beneficiaries in slums, swapping his tailored suits for chinos and a wicker hat.

But in London Agius appears every inch the old-fashioned banker. Slim and impeccably turned-out, he has perfect manners and seemed well-liked among his staff.

He started his career at Lazard in 1972, becoming chairman of Lazard London in 2001 and deputy chairman of the company's global operation a year later.

He joined the airports operator BAA in 1995 as a non-executive director and became chairman in 2002, a position he held for four years. In 2006 he resigned from Lazard to become chairman of Barclays at the start of the following year.

Now 65, he still holds a number of positions in the financial sector, including chairman of the British Bankers' Association, although it is thought he will have to resign from that post. He is also a business ambassador for the government's UK Trade and Investment department and a senior independent director of the BBC.

A keen gardener, Agius is chairman of the trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He has two daughters with his wife, Kate, who is the daughter of Edmund de Rothschild, of the Rothschild banking family.

Born in July 1946, he was educated at St George's College, Weybridge, and gained an MA in mechanical sciences and economics at Cambridge before graduating from Harvard Business School with an MBA.